According to the United Nations Development Fund for women, African women and girls spend approximately 40 billion hours a year carrying and fetching water, a figure equivalent to the output of France’s entire labor force. Furthermore, more people die from unsafe water per year than all forms of violence, including war. In response, the Global Women’s Water Initiative (GWWI), a program of the Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) is working in 13 African countries to co-design strategies and trainings with ordinary African women and water and sanitation technicians on long-term solutions to the water crisis faced in the continent. Comfort and Georgia, both from Ghana, are graduates of the program who launched a rainwater harvesting system at three schools in their community. Photo credit: Global Women’s Water Initiative
